Tightly Knit
by thejollydoctor
Summary: This is very different to my previous works. It is about a young girl who has not encountered many decent people in her life. After meeting the Fifth Doctor, she is drawn to his friendly demeanor and finds herself having many adventures aboard the TARDIS. Everything changes when a future incarnation of the Doctor appears with troubling news.
1. Tightly Knit

"Tightly Knit": A Forgotten Companion's Tale

Yuna was young, no older than seventeen, and she was alone on the streets. She looked much older than she really was, so no one ever questioned her entering stores alone and staying out late at night. Life had not been forgiving to her at all, and it could be seen in her jaded grey eyes.

She was leaning against the brick exterior of a furniture store that had long since been abandoned. Her old shoes reflected this same neglect, as did the backpack that she had patched together with duct tape.

It was a cold afternoon, and she was hunched over her one belonging that remained in one piece- a notebook. Its pages were blank, even though she often got the urge to fill them. Nothing seemed quite worthy of the smooth cover's protection. Even she didn't have that luxury- something to protect her.

She looked up from the light blue lines of the paper as a shadow crossed over hers, blotting out the sun. The thin, blond-haired man in front of her wore a dusty coat and celery on his lapel. He smiled knowingly at her and hesitated before beginning to walk away.

"Are you going somewhere?" Yuna said before he had taken two steps. She sensed a warmth behind his eyes that she hadn't felt in years. She suddenly desired nothing more than for him to stay within her sights. A hint of desperation leaked through her voice.

The man stopped and turned again to look at her. "Yes," he said bluntly. "Are you meaning to come along?"

Yuna tilted her head slighty, trying to evaluate his intentions. "Would you permit such a thing?"

"Well, I rather think you'd like my destination, and I'm sure you'll be welcome there." He held out his arm, inviting her to come nearer. "I'm the Doctor, by the way," he added with a smile.

Yuna lifted her backpack up from the pavement and placed her notebook inside. She slung the bag over her shoulder as she stepped forward. "My name is Yuna," she said softly. "It's good to meet you, Doctor."

Yuna looked up from the enthusiastic scribbles in her weather-worn notebook and smiled at the Doctor, whom she had come to know so well. He adjusted the controls on the console and smiled back at her.

Peri, the Doctor's other companion, was still off in her room getting dressed. The Doctor never seemed to care about Peri's clothes and Yuna never understood why she bothered. "It's the heart behind that frilly blouse that he cares about, silly," she'd say to Peri. Peri would return with some comment about confidence.

"Are we going somewhere?" Yuna asked, knowing full well that the Tardis was always destined for someplace extraordinary. She just liked to hear the Doctor's reply.

"As always, the coordinates are set for adventure, Yuna." He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped a smudge from the console.

A distorted echo of the engines resounded through the room suddenly, and the Doctor looked up worriedly. Yuna shoved her notebook in her backpack and stood- ready for anything.

"What's wrong, Doctor?" she asked.

"T-that's the sound of the Tardis engines," he said. His brow was furrowed and his sunny smile had inverted.

"Well, of course, but why is it doing that?"

"It's not. Not this one anyway. There's two of our Tardises landing." He pulled the lever that activated the scanner.

"Two of our Tardises? What do you mean?"

"Look."

On the scanner was the image of a police box. It was much older looking than the Tardis, but aside from the dust and scratches the two boxes were nearly identical.

"There's our other Tardis." The Doctor gestured to the box on the screen with a grimace. "It seems a future me has decided to pay us a visit."

The door of the other police box opened slowly and a curly brown-haired man in a green victorian suit stepped out. He looked sadly at the Tardis before coming up to the door and knocking. The Doctor pulled a lever on the console and the door opened for the strange man.

The man had a very grave expression as he stepped over the threshold of the Tardis. He looked directly at Yuna and swallowed, attempting to conceal the lump that was forming in his throat. He glanced to his left at the Doctor and then back at Yuna.

"Yuna," he said with a slight crack in his voice, "you need to come with me." His already grave expression deepened and Yuna thought she glimpsed a tear in his eyes.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm the Doctor; a future version. I came to tell you that your time with this version of me," he gestured to the Doctor in the cream coat, "is ending."

Yuna looked frantically between the two Doctors and fixed her eyes on the one she was familiar with. "I don't understand," she said. "Why must I leave?"

"Because you did," the brown-haired Doctor said. "And because the days ahead of me," again he gestured to the other Doctor, "are nothing that you'll want to go through."

At this, Yuna's Doctor, who had been hunched over the console, stood with an anxious expression. "If you are me, then tell me what I'm thinking of," he demanded.

"Well, firstly, you're scared to death of what's coming. Don't worry, it's not as bad as you think," the new Doctor began. "But the object you're thinking of is the notebook Adric used to calculate the coordinates to E-Space."

The blond Doctor leaned against the console again, this time using it as a crutch. Yuna looked curiously at the new Doctor and lifted her finger to ask a question. "Why do you look different?"

"Whenever I am about to die my body undergoes a process called regeneration. It allows me to heal myself and continue living, but I have a new body."

Yuna felt like a bag of bricks had been thrown at her chest. "When you're about to... but that means..." she looked at her Doctor and tears welled up in her eyes. He was still leaning against the console. Fear was in his eyes, but it was nothing compared to his sadness.

Yuna threw her arms around his middle and buried her face in his knit jumper, almost throwing him against the wall. "I don't... want to go," she sobbed.

His jumper felt warm and soft against her wet cheeks and she realized that she'd never feel that again. She knew the Doctor, and she knew that once he found an outfit he liked he stuck with it until it deteriorated. This new Doctor would wear this victorian outfit for ages, and she would likely never feel the warmth of his jumper ever again.

After a reassuring pat on the back, she managed to pull herself away, and she grabbed her bag. "No time to lose," the new Doctor said as he escorted her away.

A few minutes later Peri came into the console room. She took one look at the Doctor and decided that either her new dress was the most horrible thing he had ever seen or someone had died. She took another look around the room and frowned.

"Where's Yuna?"

Yuna clutched her backpack tightly against her chest and stared gloomily at the bobbing blue column of the console.

"I haven't died," the Doctor said. "Not really, anyway. I am the same man."

"Mostly," Yuna whispered. "But you have changed. You've had many experiences since two minutes ago that I was not there for. You're the same man, but not the same soul. Enough of you has changed for me to feel a profound sense of loss."

Yuna glanced away from the console at the Doctor, who resembled a shamed puppy as he stared at his shoes. "Did it hurt?" she asked.

"Sorry?"

"When you regenerated. When he died." Yuna half expected the Doctor to look hurt by her last statement, but his expression did not change.

"A little. I've regenerated more than once since then, you see, so it's hard for me to remember."

"Why didn't you come for me sooner?"

"You wouldn't have gotten along well with the other versions of me. They could be harsh or manipulative at times, and they certainly wouldn't have been as soft and... understanding as you'd prefer. Right now is the first time that I've felt I could care for you properly."

Yuna's lips spread into a thin line as she evaluated the worth of the Doctor's words. "All right," she said. "Can I hug you? I'm missing that old sweater of yours already; I'll need to get used to your new clothes."

The Doctor held out his arm, gesturing for her to step closer. Yuna placed her backpack on the floor and hesitated before wrapping her arms around his middle. She snuggled her face in his chest and realized that his silky vest wasn't absorbing her tears like her old Doctor's sweater had. The tears came quicker now, and all the Doctor could do was pat her shoulder.

Yuna woke up during the night in the remains of her old room. The bed frame was the same but the mattress and blankets had been replaced. The furniture was rearranged but apart from that all was the same.

She had been disturbed by a quiet click of the door. The Doctor had snuck in and out of her room to place a soft object by her face. Instinctively, she clutched the object and pulled it closer to her.

Knit.

The object was soft, and knit, and familiar. Half-conscious, she lifted her head and spread it over her pillow. She snuggled her face in it's warm texture and her eyes shot open as she realized what it was. It was one of her Doctor's cricket jumpers. It still smelled faintly of linseed oil.


	2. Binding

**Part Two:**

Yuna was fuming as she paced the floor of her room. Everything was different and she hated it. She'd shared breakfast with the new Doctor for the first time that morning and was shocked when he used a completely different ratio of sugar and cream in his tea. And since when did he hate raspberry jam?

This didn't bother her too much at first. After all, everyone's tastes change every so often. But then she found out Peri's old room was accidentally jettisoned on one of his previous adventures. How could he be so careless? He never was before.

Oh, and the new console room was a disaster. It was dark and creepy, and desperately in need of a dusting. Her Doctor was often behind on repairs, but at least he kept the place clean!

She was more sad than angry at the moment. The huffing and puffing was her way of forming a mask. Everything that was familiar about her Doctor was gone. His habits had changed; his clothes had changed. Even his face had changed.

Her heart was breaking. How could her Doctor let her go with this new man, knowing that everything would be different? It was like letting her walk off with a complete stranger. There's no way he could've known she'd be safe.

She picked up her notebook and stared at the cover. The smooth surface forever protected the words beneath from harm. She had no covering now, hers had died with her Doctor, so why should these pages have one? She grabbed the pages and tore them viciously from the binding, letting them fall to the floor.

She heard footsteps approaching outside her door and picked up the papers as quickly as she could. She piled them on her nightstand and sat down on her bed with crossed arms. A light tap came a the door followed by a soft voice. "Are you all right, Yuna?"

"I'm fine," Yuna lied. "You can come in."

The door opened slowly and the Doctor stepped through. His eyes fell to the empty binding on the floor and flashed up to the stack of paper on her nightstand. "Yuna..." he began. He stepped forward and fingered the pages.

"I'm not happy here," Yuna cut him off. "You're too different."

"That's not-"

"I don't want to hear it. No matter what you say you're still a stranger to me." She was staring at the binding that was once part of her notebook. Tears began to form in her eyes but she blinked them away.

"You're right. Words won't fix anything. I'll leave you to your thoughts, but first- can I borrow these pages?" The Doctor gestured to the stack.

Yuna lifted her head to face the vacant wall. "What do you want with them?"

"Like I said, words won't fix anything. I promise not to read them if you don't want me to."

Yuna was confused by the Doctor's request, but it didn't matter to her any more. The entries were just a bitter reminder of her lost past. "Sure," her cracked voice whispered. "Take them."

It had been a few hours and Yuna finally decided to leave her room. She had tried to take a nap, but her Doctor's jumper was still stretched over her pillow and it triggered feelings of regret. She shouldn't have torn out the pages of her notebook. Those stories were all she had left of her old life, and now she had nothing more than a broken binding.

She tip-toed across the hall and peered into the console room. The Doctor was sitting in a chair by the fireplace with something sitting in his lap. The fire was lit, so it appeared as a silhouette. After watching for a few minutes she saw that he was sewing the object. The sound of crackling paper echoed through the room and she realized he was binding her pages back together.

When he had finished, he stood and started to walk back to the hall. Yuna made a dash to her room and hopped into her bed, pretending to be asleep.

Her door creaked open a moment later and the Doctor stepped in. "It's alright, Yuna," he said. "I know you're awake."

She sat up and pretended to be perturbed. "What do you want?" she asked flatly.

The Doctor sat on the side of her bed, his back angled slightly away from her. He placed the newly-bound notebook in front of her and patted its new cover. The binding had been simple and black before, but now it had a circular pattern that resembled the roundels from her old Doctor's Tardis.

"It has a new cover," he said. Yuna instantly knew he was about to dive into a speech. She mused over this, wondering how she could still read him so clearly.

"It looks and even feels different, but it's still the same notebook. The contents are the same," he continued. "I am much the same way. I have a new body, but I am still the same. You said my soul had changed, but you're wrong. I've simply added a few chapters to my story since you left."

Yuna picked up the notebook and ran her fingers along the binding. How right he was. Her notebook had a new protection, just like her. This new Doctor wasn't a different story, he was a continuation. She looked up at him and smiled faintly. She still wasn't sure if she liked this 'continuation'.

The Doctor smiled back. "Now we have a chance to add a few more chapters together. My story is always best when you're in it."

The next morning the Doctor escorted Yuna out of the Tardis and into the bright sunlight. They had landed on the rocky terrain of a planet in the Ison galaxy. The air was clear, and so was the view. Not a thing stood between them and the horizon ahead of them.

The Doctor took a few steps forward and then deliberately stopped and turned to his right. He gazed at something in the distance with a smile and then winked at Yuna before continuing down the path.

"Wha-?" Yuna began to ask. She looked in the direction he had turned and her jaw dropped.

A few strides away stood her Doctor, with his cream coat and crumpled panama hat that smelled of dusty linseed. He seemed shocked to see her, and the shimmer in his eye told her that it was a point in his timeline in which they had already said goodbye to each other.

Yuna ran to him with her arms outstretched, ready to hug him. "It's so good to see you!" she cried as she wrapped her arms around his middle. "How are you here?"

The Doctor chuckled and patted her head. "It would seem my future self deliberately came here so you could see me," he explained. "Is everything going well between... us?"

Yuna let go of him and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Not as good as the old days, but it's not too terrible either," she sniffled.

"Just remember, dear..." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Never judge a book by it's cover. He may seem like a different person, but inside he's still me."

"C-Cover...?" Yuna repeated. Her forehead wrinkled in thought. She let out a little gasp as the phrase sunk in.

"Are you all right?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, it's just... that word. You've used it before."

"I have?"

"You will have!" Yuna said with a grin. She stood on her toes to give the Doctor a peck on the cheek. "Thank you, Doctor! See ya in a couple regenerations." She turned and ran back to the other Doctor.

Her Doctor.


End file.
